Collections on Ethics for All People

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...object original: "Gegenstande." In the literary language of this period, "Gegenstand" (literally "object") was a common term for a beloved person or the focus of one's affection. it longed for, which it did not know, just as long as I longed for you, Arcinde, without knowing under which heavenly realm you dwell.

Often in the evening, as I wandered alone in the garden, the thought of this bliss original: "Glückseligkeit," a term implying supreme happiness or even spiritual beatitude. animated my beating heart. — Even then, I was building a cottage for the object of my love. — "Here," I cried out, "my Arcinde shall live; here flowers shall bloom for her eyes — here the first scents of morning and the last of evening shall breathe upon her; see, Arcinde, so happy I wish to make you — so happy we shall be." — Arcinde’s innocent heart heard the seducer’s original: "Verführers." tones with emotion, for she did not yet know mankind; the girl sank onto the monster’s The narrator’s voice breaks through here to judge Archest, shifting from his romantic words to the reality of his character. breast, — left her parents, and sacrificed innocence and conscience to the seducer; but all too soon her soul woke from that deadly slumber. — She saw herself plunged from the peak of happiness into the utmost misery — from then on, no landscape was beautiful to her eye, no songs of the nightingales